Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Moving back to Athens and going to class has taken up a lot of my time, and there's been a lot of other things going on, to boot. For starters, I got a little something before I went back to Athens:
Yup, I got a tattoo. It's healed up nicely since then, and it looks gorgeous. I plan on getting more of my back piece done over the next few months, but moving into a new apartment takes a whooole lot of money, so we'll see. This tattoo still needs to be colored in, but it's absolutely breathtaking as is; Matt from Superior Skin Art did an amazing job, and I can't thank him enough for this piece of art.
While I was unpacking, I found a knitting project that I hadn't seen in a while; remember the yoke pullover I was designing? I dug it out of the bottom of a knitting box, and I dove right into it.
I took this picture a few days ago (when I planned to update the blog originally), and since then I've finished the body and am halfway through one of the sleeves. I try it on every now and then to make sure it's fitting, and so far it's been very successful. I shaped the body to make a more fitted sweater, and fortunately I got it right on the first try. I'm a little worried I'll run out of purple before I finish the sleeves, but if I do, I'll design a small Fair Isle panel for the end of the sleeves with the green and gold cream. Though, it looks like I'll make it; I like the idea of all the Fair Isle being on top with a solid purple over the rest of the body. It's slimming, and it really makes the Fair Isle on the yoke pop against the purple. I'm really excited about this sweater, and I can't wait to see the finished product.
In addition to getting a new apartment, I also gained a new family member.
Meet Zizou (named after retired French soccer player Zinedine Zidane): he's a three-month-old kitten, and he's absolutely adorable. He's all white except for a small gray patch on the top of his head (which we joke is because he likes to headbutt things). He's the sweetest kitten I've ever seen; he erupts into purrs whenever I scoop him up, and he follows me around constantly. He's very quiet, only mewing when he's in a car or when he accidently closes himself in the bathroom. When Kalan came to visit last weekend, he sweetly brought some cat toy soccer balls for Zizou to play with. He loves toys that make noise and will chase them around the apartment when he's not passed out on the couch. Of course, he loves attention, so he gets a little disgruntled when I'm knitting. So what does he do?
He sits on my pattern notes. Oh, Zizou. As for my knitting, he did take a liking of pouncing all over it when I wasn't paying attention to him, but a little squirt of water to the side gets him running. Fortunately, it looks like he's getting the message, although he likes to get revenge on his rival.
Yeah, he's an adorable little thing until he starts jumping at the cords on my Wii. He better watch himself.
'Tis Student Worker Appreciation Day at Tate, and I'm feelin' the love. Nothing like free food all day long. Whoop!
What's more, a bunch of people are watching a PSV v Liverpool game in front of me, much to my fangirly delight. Makes me miss the World Cup like nuts. If only I was watching Bayern Munich play, it'd be perfect, yo. In fact, these are the same guys who turned on the soccer game the last time. Those guys are automatically awesome.
Tests are starting to round out now, which is nice. Two more for Abnormal Psych, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Psych 2990, and one more paper for French. My next Neuroscience exam is this Thursday, which hopefully I will so well on. I'm taking hours out of work to go to the review, so I better do well, dammit.
I got the new Silverchair album on Sunday, and I don't have enough time right now to express my thoughts on it. A full in-depth review of Young Modern will be posted soon, but right now the two words to describe it off the top of my head are "Dissociatves" and "crazy." Seriously, that album screams crazy. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I'll get into that mess later.
There was no hot water this morning when I needed to take a shower, so I didn't appreciate that. Of course, the hot water came back by the time Lauren rolled out of bed, but whatever. I see how it is, O-House. Water problems up the wazoo in that place.
No progress on the yoke pullover lately, but I've been knitting Cookie A.'s Pomatomus socks full-steam ahead for my April sock-along socks. I'm using the peacock-colored sock yarn I bought in Atlanta, and it looks really good in the scale-pattern. Pictures will follow soon!
I'm relieved that I have only one more paper to write for French; M. Crawford's comments are so subjective, it drives me nuts. He's almost as bad as my English 1102 prof back in my freshman year. It's going to be something involving the movie we're watching in class right now, "Bon Voyage"--which I'm enjoying so far, actually. Gerard Depardieu! Even if he's getting kind of old. Pauvre homme.
Now I must run my ass over to the Psych building and get my Psych 2990 lab over with for the week. It's an easy as pie lab, so I'm happy for the padding it provides to my 2990 grade. Tchao!
Reading is giving me a real headache; the words always look fuzzy to me, and I have to really concentrate to read them. I hope it's because I haven't been getting as much sleep as I should. Damn if I need to look into some glasses.
Speaking of which, I still need to look into some non-prescription ones for sewing. I've read way too many stories of sewing machine needles breaking and ending up in someone's eye to use my machine without protective eyewear. That would be more than one story I've read of that happening. Yikes.
Of course, I threw caution to the wind a few days ago when I sewed the lining in for my knitting bag, which is completely done now by the way. I finished knitting it up and sewing it together before Spring Break but didn't get around to the lining until last week. I thought I had left all my bobbins at home, but it turns out they were in a bag above my closet. The thing looks real spiffy now with that lining.
Lauren and I spent a good part of yesterday psyching ourselves up for the more expensive apartment at River Mill, since all the plan Cs were taken before we could snag one. We headed over to the River Mill office to get an application, and, like I do every time we go there (for the hell of it, really), I asked them if any plan Cs had opened up. I was met with a "Yes, actually," and all I could do was look at her and go: ". . . what?"
So now Lauren and I have the apartment we've been wanting for the past three months. It's a reasonable price and perfectly located where we can walk to class and work without relying on any bus or car pooler. All of a sudden, my biggest stressor has been lifted off my shoulders, and it's come so fast I don't think I've processed it yet. Whew!
The yoke pullover is coming along beautifully. I knit the yoke just a tad too long, so I'm going to have to rip back a couple of rows and redesign the bottom of it to fit. This pullover's going to be more fitted than the typical yoke pullover or bohus, since I don't wear loose knits very well. The purple against the gold cream, green, and dark brown of the yoke looks so lovely.
Still enchanted by Blackfield's second album. Still waiting on Silverchair's Young Modern (March 30) and Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet (April 24, christ) to get here already. I can hardly take the waiting!
Je t'ai croisée
Un samedi soir
Et j'ai jeté sur ta silhouette
Une poignée d'épices colorées
Mon but était clair
T'envoûter
Tout en restant
Libre-moi et libre-toi
Car le roi de l'amour
N'a plus besoin d'esclaves
Adieu, adieu la nuit
Adieu tristesse, adieu les larmes
Je ne suis plus celui
Que tu as connu, plus le même
Ô bel enfant
Qui a tant pleuré
Adieu tout est fini
Adieu les larmes, adieu la nuit
Et le soleil de minuit a brillé pour nous
Jusqu'à l'arrivée du jour
Alors nous nous sommes séparés
Comme déjà saturés des délices du futur
Et j'ai marché seul
Guidé par ton ombre
J'ai traversé la ville déserte
Encore étincelante
Du voyage des rêveurs
Je t'ai croisé un samedi soir
Et déjà j'aimais l'odeur de ton rire
Et le soleil de minuit a brillé pour nous
Jusqu'à l'arrivée du jour
